The Federal Government of Nigeria has ordered power
distribution companies to migrate to cashless settlement platforms with respect
to the collection of electricity bills from residential, industrial and
commercial customers.
It stated that beginning from January 2, 2020, the
distributors had till January 31 and March 31, depending on the class of
customers, to comply with the order, which was issued by the Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission in a document with reference ‘Order
No/NERC/183/2019.’
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The document, which was dated December 30, 2019 and obtained
by the Punch in Abuja, was signed by both the NERC Chairman, James Momoh; and
the NERC Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye.
In the document, the commission noted that the Federal
Government issued a policy directive that required the mandatory transition of
certain classes of end-use customers of Discos from direct cash settlement of
bills to cashless settlement platforms.
It said this was in order to reduce collection
leakages/losses and improve overall revenue assurance in the Nigerian
electricity supply industry.
“The commission notes that this policy directive complies
with the EPSRA (Electric Power Sector Reform Act) and the laws of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria,” it stated.
It added, “The commission hereby orders that without
prejudice to the provisions of section 10 of the Meter Reading, Billing, Cash
Collections and Credit Management for Electricity Supplies Regulations, 2007,
all Discos shall transit to cashless settlement platforms for the
billing/collection of industrial and commercial customers by 31 January 2020.”
The regulator stated that without prejudice to the
provisions of section 10 of the cash collection regulation, all Discos should
transit to cashless settlement platforms for the billing/collection of the R3
class of residential customers by March 31.
The NERC stated that all Discos should leverage available
banking channels approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria in complying with the
directive.
It stated that all collection agents, super agents,
sub-agents, payment solution service providers and payment terminal service
providers engaged by Discos in compliance with the order shall be duly
registered with both the commission and CBN.
The regulator further stated that all duly registered
collection agents and other service providers should operate dedicated accounts
strictly for the purpose of billing/collection of revenues from customers of
the Discos.
To ensure a successful transition of customers to cashless
settlement platforms, the commission said all Discos must promote the adoption
of end-to-end electronic payments by all stakeholders in sector.
It said the power distributors should provide customers with
appropriate bank account details and other approved channels for
receiving/processing payments such as mobile money and electronic wallets.
It further stated that all Discos should ensure full
accountability of energy flow with the installation of appropriate metering
infrastructure integrated with the customer management systems of all
industrial, commercial and the R3 class of residential customers by December
31, 2020.
“All Discos shall comply with the reporting requirements
prescribed by the commission pursuant to this order,” the NERC stated.
It said the commission and the CBN or its delegates would
monitor all third-party dedicated accounts for the billing/collections of funds
from industrial, commercial and the R3 residential class of customers of
Discos.
“This order supersedes, overrides, extinguishes all other
forms of billing and collections from industrial, commercial and R3 residential
class of customers of Discos,” the NERC declared.
The commission explained that Discos were the designated
revenue collection agents for the power sector, stressing that failure to
comply with the order would be treated as a breach of the terms and conditions
of the distribution licence.